Welcome Guest! If you are already a member of the BMW MOA, please log in to the forum in the upper right hand corner of this page. Check "Remember Me?" if you wish to stay logged in.

We hope you enjoy the excellent technical knowledge, event information and discussions that the BMWMOA forum provides.
Why not take the time to join the club, so you can enjoy posting on
the forum, the club magazine, and all of the discounts and benefits the BMWMOA offers?Want to read the MOA monthly magazine for free? Take a 3-month test ride of the magazine; check here for details.

If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You will need to join the MOA before you can post: click this register link to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

NOTE. Some content will be hidden from you. If you want to view all content, you must register for the forum if you are not a member, or if a member, you must be logged in.

Passports. This as a concern floors me. It is an incredibly handy thing to have in so many non travel business, banking and other things requiring a second photo id. The cost of acquisition for those on a fixed income can be planned for. First time fee and paying a rip off passport photo your cost is roughly $110.00 for a 10 year pass port.

I have lived nearly 65 years in the United States without the need of a passport as I have never left the states. The expense and time required to get a passport would simply be an added expense of attending one rally. Besides that, it requires planning months in advance which many of us procrastinators don't handle well. We might plan on attending the rally but we would put off applying for a passport until it was to late to attend.

'You can say what you want about the South, but I almost never hear of anyone wanting to retire to the North.

I have lived nearly 65 years in the United States without the need of a passport as I have never left the states. The expense and time required to get a passport would simply be an added expense of attending one rally. Besides that, it requires planning months in advance which many of us procrastinators don't handle well. We might plan on attending the rally but we would put off applying for a passport until it was to late to attend.

Based on my 60+ years of experience I think you have missed some fun riding, beautiful country and meeting a bunch of really nice people. On an individual choice basis can not argue with any of that except the highlighted comment. The length of time to process your application spiked at the beginning change in requirements by the US. It is now down to a couple of weeks in most districts.

edit: Besides if you're truly a procrastinator your still planning to find out where this years rally is being held.

My intention is to point out the minimal cost of acquiring the documents needed to get back into the US once you travel abroad and to clear up a bit of the miss information about the time and hassle to acquire them. Yes their was a major spike in the delay time as the rules were implemented but that has changed in a good direction.

I can understand the frustration with the US government requirement we have a passport to get back into US after traveling into Canada and their willingness to let me back in because I have one. Customs checks are a pain no matter where you are traveling whether traveling between countries or crossing in and out of California

I speak only for myself. I like to travel. I admit a certain pride when I pull out my passport on a trip. Customs and the related paper work are a pain but such a small portion of time spent on a trip. Obviously YMMV and that is fine.

Based on my 60+ years of experience I think you have missed some fun riding, beautiful country and meeting a bunch of really nice people. On an individual choice basis can not argue with any of that except the highlighted comment. The length of time to process your application spiked at the beginning change in requirements by the US. It is now down to a couple of weeks in most districts.

edit: Besides if you're truly a procrastinator your still planning to find out where this years rally is being held.

I'm sure I missed out on some things. My most frequent riding buddy has ridden in 38 foreign countries as well as all of the lower 48. However, he is worth millions and money is no object. Being of modest means, I had to plan my life differently. I procrastinate on small things but plan on the big. For example, I made a plan when I was 24 to retire when I reached 55. I wanted to be debt free and have enough assets to buy the toys I wanted as well as live comfortably. I reached my goals and did retire at 55. I will celebrate 10 years of retirement when daylight savings time starts next spring.

If I had elected to tour the world, I could not have retired in these beautiful mountains with many crooked roads where I can ride any time the urge hits me. As I ride through the mountains, it's amazing how many nice interesting folks you can meet, especially when you have the same mountain accent they have.

I traded seeing the world for time to enjoy the world around me and my grandchildren. I think I made a good trade.

'You can say what you want about the South, but I almost never hear of anyone wanting to retire to the North.

Just my 2 cents, Trenton was my favorite rally,it was the rally that taught me to camp,after losing our hotel in Napanee and in Trenton we got the last 2 tent setups at the rally site,bought bags and other gear at Canadian tire and we were off and running.Even though the vendors were few,that gave us time to get to know people,we already knew all the roads seeing that is were my family is from.I would not mind that kind of rally again, also 1+ for Burlington or Lake Placid.

I have lived nearly 65 years in the United States without the need of a passport as I have never left the states. The expense and time required to get a passport would simply be an added expense of attending one rally. Besides that, it requires planning months in advance which many of us procrastinators don't handle well. We might plan on attending the rally but we would put off applying for a passport until it was to late to attend.

Count yourself lucky, in Pennsylvania, a US passport is one of the few forms of ID that guarantees your right to vote.

Would the MOA board be willing to work with a small group of people that are eager to try to overcome the obstacles of a cross-border rally? I think this would include:

1. Establish the major obstacles that MUST be overcome, or there is no rally
2. Establish other obstacles that, if overcome, would contribute to the success of the rally
3. Have regular checkpoints with the board to discuss progress and decide if it is worthwhile continuing

As a Canadian that travels to the US each week for work, and has had to go through the Passport / Nexus / Work permit route for my job, I think these problems are solvable, but they may not be. We will only know if we try, eh?

Canada:)

Ya'll could START your own National Rally? Please do, don't wait for 'MOA. I will attend. I think my Passport jynx'd me, as since I got it, I've not been back to Canada and having ridden there many times, loved it all. 5 years now, no Canada with Passport in my trunk! Shame on me, an issue soon resolved, as I have North riding plans. Now, with all Canada at 38Million folks population, think BIG and maybe we can support a family grown National Rally up there. I know 1000s of NAmerican riders wanting to come. Just do it in another month, not July Randy

Would the MOA board be willing to work with a small group of people that are eager to try to overcome the obstacles of a cross-border rally? I think this would include:

1. Establish the major obstacles that MUST be overcome, or there is no rally
2. Establish other obstacles that, if overcome, would contribute to the success of the rally
3. Have regular checkpoints with the board to discuss progress and decide if it is worthwhile continuing

As a Canadian that travels to the US each week for work, and has had to go through the Passport / Nexus / Work permit route for my job, I think these problems are solvable, but they may not be. We will only know if we try, eh?

Please feel free to PM me if you would prefer to take this offline.

Jim

My guess is they would be willing to listen and give feedback. My experience with the BoD is they are very open to constructive open discussion. Put your group together talk then contact the BoD with initial ideas and go from there.

Originally Posted by Polarbear

Ya'll could START your own National Rally?

A reasonable idea but the discussion has been about what obstacles there are to holding an future "BMW MOA International Rally" in Canada.

The passport requirement is American, not Canadian. Non-residents may enter Canada at a land border crossing with proof of citizenship, i.e. a birth certificate.

There are municipalities in the US where you may not carry. Canada just happens to be bigger.

Those convicted of "crimes of moral turpitude" (e.g. passing a bad cheque) or with minor pot possession charges are barred from entering the US, so criminality issues aren't one to blame on Canada. Some Canadians can't enter the US either. Canada recently amended the laws preventing entry if convicted of DUI, so that is far less of an issue now. If criminality is a problem, is far simpler and cheaper to apply for a special permit to enter Canada than to get one to enter the US. This issue will keep some Canadians from ever attending an MOA national.

Where I work there are dozens of small mom and pop businesses that undertake commercial cross-border transactions daily. It's not hard. Every commercial issue outlined here can be solved by a customs broker. It happens tens of thousands of times every day. Many businesses have a provincial attitude to cross-border commerce. As a Canadian, I can't count the times one comes across vendors that won't export from the US, even if you are willing to pay the necessary shipping. All for the sake of the sender taking 60 seconds to stick a customs declaration form on the package.

Canada is a country with 10% of the population of the US, so there will be fewer venues that meet the MOA's requirements. On the other hand, beating the heat that so many have complained about for the past couple of years should be easier than in most of the US.

A shame to write off a piece of geography larger than the US when it is an easy ride to get there.

About 5 years ago my wife and I tried to enter Canada with birth cirtificates. It was a no go. The Canadian lady got pretty snotty with me for not knowing the rules. It was my bad, I was told what I needed but thought the old birth cirtificate would take care of it. I did not have a passport yet. It was just a spurr of the moment day trip. No big deal. I plan on going back for a vistit so I will have the passport next crossing.